


Close

by Zei_Legato



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, Romance, failed dinner date thingy, they're not really in a relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 11:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20674829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zei_Legato/pseuds/Zei_Legato
Summary: “You know I’m good at memorizing things.”





	Close

**Author's Note:**

> woah hey guys listen i've been keeping this fic for like ten whole months in my drafts and i just got around to finishing it. also i got the idea from an old post on tumblr so yes it's not original and i just wanted to try my hands on it :D dunno if it's been done before but i'm glad i finished it at least.
> 
> anyway without further ado please enjoy the fic!

“Would you like another refill, miss?”

“Huh?” Chisato looked up from her phone, eyes tired for more reasons than simply staring at the device’s bright display, “Oh... oh, right, yes please.”

The waitress nodded politely, smile sympathetic as she lifted up the empty glass of iced lemon tea from the table. It was the second empty glass she’d recovered from that table; the table for two that had only been occupied by one person for the past two hours.

It was enough time for Chisato to familiarize herself with the restaurant’s interiors. The dim lighting, the wooden floor, the smell of scented candles wafting in the air, down to the faces of couples who came after her and went before her, and the pitying gazes of the people who’d seen her sit there doing nothing but take a sip of her drink, occasionally go to the restroom, or look at her phone to check the notifications.

Oh there were lots of notifications; too many of them that the thought of muting them crossed her mind, but she couldn’t. She shouldn’t miss anything—and definitely not a thing from her manager (even though Chisato had made sure to let her know that she’d be out with an acquaintance, but just in case). So many notifications but not one from the person she’d been, by now, unwillingly waiting for.

She smiled as she read the banters in the Pastel*Palettes group chat, with Hina sending yet another... meme of hers that would always bring the chat back to life. It was refreshing; it even managed to make a soft chuckle escape her lips as she typed a quick reply and pressed send. For a moment, she could forget about the vacant seat across hers; about the fact that she did this to herself.

Her eyes went back to settling themselves on the empty chair, which occupant should’ve been there since, at most, half an hour ago. Her gaze intensified, boring into the wooden carvings as if the very person who’d asked her out to a celebratory dinner to mark yet another successful film shoot (and she’d accepted out of courtesy), would appear out of thin air and bow his head in apology.

At least now she knew better not to accept this sort of invitation anymore. Not from anyone, no matter who they were.

Her eyes lit up at her refilled iced lemon tea—the last one, she reminded herself. At this point, she knew it’d just be pointless to wait, because even her appetite had gone down the drain a while ago. However, she still managed to look up at the waitress and gave her a grateful smile for being patient with her, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the waitress returned the smile as she walked away.

There she went, Chisato’s only momentary company for the past two hours. Now it was back to her, her phone, the iced lemon tea, and the empty chair. The phone had been buzzing endlessly, most of which were because of the Pastel*Palettes group chat. They were still at it, Chisato thought, and how she wished she could just lie down on her bed and respond to the messages as she rolled around enjoying her friends’ antics.

As lively as the group chat was, she didn’t tell them anything about the dinner, not wanting to make any of her friends worry over something this... stupid. The only friend who knew she had a dinner date, if she could even call it _that_, was Kanon, and that was only because Kanon asked her if she was free for a tea party over at her place (which she would’ve very much preferred over the dinner invitation had Kanon asked much earlier). The others were mostly busy with their own jobs whenever Pastel*Palettes had no gigs, so the last thing she’d want this evening was make her bandmates fret about her because she was pretty sure she got herself enough strangers eyeing her with concern and praying she’d just leave already because it wasn’t worth it anymore.

Nobody recognized her as _the _Chisato Shirasagi, of course. She’d chosen the most concealing outfit she could find—consisted of a beret, a pair of magenta-tinted sunglasses she’d gotten as a gift from Aya, a warm coat, and a pair of dark jeans. She also had her hair up in a ponytail, doing her best not to style herself like the actress people were all too familiar with.

Just one more glass, she thought, bringing the straw to her lips after stirring the cold liquid; one more, and she’d pack her things to make her way home. She was too tired to deal with this amount of disappointment today and once she left, she’d leave all of this feeling behind too. Maybe this was why he’d asked her beforehand about the kind of restaurant she might like—to make sure she’d be comfortable waiting for him. In all honesty, she was, up until the clock showed that he was far too late to make her feel any comfort under the gaze of the employees and the people who happened to be there the whole time she was waiting.

It was a complete waste of an otherwise great place to spend the evening in, and that was mostly why she was disappointed.

And the rest of the disappointment was aimed towards herself, for letting her guard down out of politeness and ending up putting herself in this situation.

A part of her wished the man, whose role in the movie was to be her character’s partner, to finally arrive only to see two empty seats. Sweet revenge, she thought, but of course it wouldn’t happen. Life wouldn’t just go along with her scenarios; this wasn’t just some movie or a stage play she wrote. It was a petty thought, honestly, but her exhaustion was doing terrible things to her mind and she really couldn’t care less.

She bitterly smiled, questioning her own foolishness that was displayed this afternoon, agreeing to the invitation for the sake of being nice when she actually had zero interest in the so-called celebratory dinner, especially not with a man. Never again. She was physically and emotionally tired and had expected to be able to relax in the restaurant, but of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

_It was never that easy for her._

She tilted her almost-empty glass, gently shaking it from side to side to hear the clinking of melting ice cubes. It was a cue for her to ask for the bill and pack up to leave. Finally. She could _finally_ walk away from the suffocating space, finally escape the overwhelming attention other people were soundlessly giving her.

It was then a sound of hurried footsteps and a chair’s feet scraping against the wooden floorboards made her look up from her purse that she was rummaging through to find her wallet. She silently watched with mouth slightly ajar as a figure sat on the empty chair she’d been glaring at the whole time. The person almost tipped the chcair over with how fast they sat down, and the sight made Chisato wince. It was a good thing they were fast enough to hold onto the table to regain balance with one hand, quickly slipping something they were holding in the other hand under the table.

_How... careless._

“I’m so _so_ sorry I’m late!” the person said out loud.

_Wait._

_That voice..._

“... Kaoru?” Chisato whispered in disbelief, taking a better look at the person in front of her.

“Hi,” Kaoru mouthed, keeping her voice low this time as she gave Chisato a subtle smile, “Play along?”

Chisato stared at Kaoru, studying her appearance. The taller girl was wearing a beanie and yellow-tinted sunglasses, with her long purple hair tied in a braid that was draped over her shoulder. She was wearing a long coat over a gray button-up shirt and a pair of black trousers.

Being popular actresses sure was difficult.

While Chisato mostly starred in movies and such, Kaoru was a well-known theater actress. Nobody didn’t know of her, whose acting was so natural and flawless people could never tell when she was being in-character and when she was being herself. Kaoru was mysterious that way, and her popularity had grown even bigger since she’d started taking part in famous plays. Again, nobody didn’t know of Kaoru Seta, face and name. Her personality, however, was a whole different story. She still had her princely act up in public (more out of habit than anything), though it had definitely toned down a little compared to how she was in high school—just a little.

Chisato sighed, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she leaned back on her chair, “You’re late. Very late.”

The volume of her voice should be enough of a sign that she was finally playing along, even though she still had questions in her head. Those could come later, she thought, because they had to drive the attention away first by making this whole situation look as natural as possible.

Which, obviously, was an easy feat for the two of them.

“I’m really sorry,” Kaoru bowed her head, voice rising in volume again as one of her hands reached down under the table, “I... went somewhere to get this first.”

A big bouquet of red roses.

_Of course._

Kaoru lifted it up, easily covering the lower half of her face. Her hopeful smile was still visible though, because Chisato could see how her cheekbones raised a bit—the smile that never changed. It amused her, how Kaoru managed to stay so disgustingly romantic even at this kind of situation; even when they hadn’t met for quite a long time due to their respective tight schedules. However, she kept her stern expression, simply lifting an eyebrow at the sight.

“Please forgive me?” Kaoru said, as sweet as she could manage to sound.

Chisato was so proud of herself for keeping up this facade because it was getting harder and harder to do so each passing second. The irritation caused by all that waiting and empty invitation was slowly dissipating—this was doing things to her heart. Then she could feel eyes on them, probably expecting her to either forgive the person or shove the bouquet up the person’s face for making her wait for two whole hours.

Well, Chisato would love to do the latter, but for a different reason.

_Must you be so irresistible?_

“Fine,” Chisato finally said, reaching out for the bouquet as she continued, “Your treat.”

Kaoru handed her the bouquet over the table, chuckling softly, “My treat.”

A whiff of the bouquet’s scent brought a genuine smile to Chisato’s face. Just the right amount of sweetness to it. The red roses were carefully arranged, wrapped in a way that fit perfectly in her hands. It was then she noticed a small red card slipped in-between the petals of one of the roses. Her eyebrows rose in curiosity and she pulled the card out, prompting a hum from Kaoru as she hadn’t expected Chisato to spot the card so fast.

_“Good work as always. You did well.”_

“... You remembered?” Chisato said, looking back up at Kaoru, whose smile grew wider at the question.

“Yes,” Kaoru tapped a finger on the side of her head, “You know I’m good at memorizing things.”

“But I’m pretty sure I only mentioned it once!” Chisato said, “Offhandedly, even.”

“Anything you say about yourself...” Kaoru trailed off, clasping her hands together and resting them on the table, “... is important to me.”

Had Chisato not known better, she’d have done a gagging motion. But it was a genuine compliment, and it was why a pretty pink blush was adorning her cheeks instead. The effect Kaoru had on her was completely beyond her control and no matter how frustrating it was, she’d surrender to it every time. It had been a while and yet it was still the same as how it was the last time they met.

Perhaps she missed her.

“Oh, you’re _so_ sweet,” Chisato responded, grinning as she put the bouquet next to her chair, letting it lean on the wall.

Kaoru laughed at the compliment; music to Chisato’s ears—music she’d longed the most to listen to live, not from the speaker of her phone or her computer. Only Kaoru knew of the compositions to this particular music, and only Kaoru was capable of playing it oh so beautifully.

The waitress who had been the one patient enough serving Chisato returned yet again to the table to hand two menu books—she seemed equally relieved that the other seat was occupied at last. Kaoru didn’t take long to flip through the pages and mumbled her orders as the waitress took note. Appetite gradually returning, Chisato ordered for a serving of chicken fillet and another refill of her iced lemon tea. After the two were done with their orders, the waitress carefully repeated the orders with a small amused smile on her face. She then took the empty glass on Chisato’s end of the table and excused herself.

“You... ordered a lot,” Chisato blinked in bewilderment at the sheepish smile on Kaoru’s face.

“I haven’t had dinner,” Kaoru chuckled, “And there was a traffic jam a few blocks away from here when I took a cab, so I just ran the rest of the way.”

“Good grief,” Chisato pinched the bridge of her nose, “But have you been resting well?”

“Well enough to allow me to run that much without a stop, yes,” Kaoru nodded, confident in her answer.

“Trying to impress me?” one corner of Chisato’s lips curved up in a knowing smile, and Kaoru playfully shrugged at it, “Then I’m glad you’ve been doing fine.”

“Yes, well... how about yourself?” Kaoru tapped a finger on the table, carefully watching Chisato’s expression shift into a darker one.

“As well as you’d expect, really,” Chisato chuckled, leaning back on her chair as she massaged her forehead, “I swear I won’t take dinner invitations anymore after this.”

The purple-haired woman nodded in an understanding manner now that things had clicked in her head, “I’m glad I decided to come here then.”

There it was again; the side of Kaoru that could grasp the situation at hand without questioning much, without requiring a lot of explanation. Perhaps there _was_ a meaning in learning so many fabricated scenarios, whether in movies or stage plays. Some things would sometimes play out as they were once written, and become a part of reality as much as the things that weren’t written.

“Say, how did you know I’d be here to begin with?” Chisato finally addressed the matter at hand now that they were no longer attracting unneeded attention from the other customers.

“Ah, um, I really wanted to give you the bouquet myself on this very day, but I wanted to make it a surprise so I asked if your friends knew of your whereabouts,” Kaoru rubbed the back of her neck, “And then Kanon happened to know, but since you didn’t update her on the situation, she wasn’t sure if you’d still be here.”

The conversation came to a halt when the waitress returned with two glasses of drinks on the tray she was carrying. She set down the iced lemon tea on Chisato’s end and the grape juice on Kaoru’s end. Both muttered their words of gratitude as the waitress excused herself for the umpteenth time from the table for the evening.

“So you were relying on the small possibility of my being here,” Chisato stated, “And what if this whole stupidity didn’t happen and that waste of a man had actually come here to this dinner?”

Kaoru bit back a smile at the insult—very Chisato, she noted, “I’d still give the bouquet to you. I’d just wait for the perfect timing at another table while I had my own dinner.”

“... And if I weren’t here?” Chisato took a sip from her drink—it tasted much sweeter now. Had it always been this sweet, and her tastebuds were simply not willing to accept any flavor earlier?

“I’d go to your apartment, obviously,” Kaoru said casually, “Dinner could wait.”

“You’re crazy,” Chisato shook her head in an amused manner, “_Unbelievably_ crazy.”

“Love is exciting in a way that makes you go crazy,” Kaoru muttered, touching the tip of Chisato’s finger with hers.

With a small smile and a blush, Chisato answered with silence. Ever since childhood, they always had this distance between them—this little distance at the tip of their fingers. Kaoru had always made her feelings clear out in the open for Chisato, and yet she never asked for Chisato’s reciprocation, nor had she ever shown a desire for it. There was a knowing look in her eyes, ever since they’d graduated from university and finally took their own paths; the knowing look that Chisato would come to her at the right time, at the pace Chisato wanted.

And so they’d settled with simply dancing around each other, never coming too close yet never straying too far. Chisato had acknowledged her own feelings, basking in the relief that Kaoru would always be Kaoru no matter how many characters she’d played and how many personalities she’d taken up on stage. Their schedules didn’t quite allow them with the leisure of being in a relationship, and somehow they’d silently agreed with this not-really-lovers thing after a discussion that could even be waved off as a minor one.

Alike to the fake chemistry they had to create for their work every now and then, but this too, Chisato wished, would be a part of reality someday when she could finally set her last mask down and take the little step that would close their distance.

“Oh look, the food’s here,” Chisato motioned to look at the approaching waitress, now with an assortment of foods on a little cart, “Are you sure you can finish all the stuff you ordered?”

“... Sharing is caring, I suppose,” Kaoru nervously smiled after seeing the actual amount of things she’d ordered, “You don’t seem like you’ve been eating enough, anyway.”

With a roll of her eyes, Chisato softly chuckled, “You’re so helpless.”

* * *

Both of them were surprised that they managed to finish the many foods Kaoru had ordered for—with a silent agreement—the two of them. Perhaps the small talks they’d shared in-between eating had helped them because they didn’t even really notice that the plates were already empty by the time Chisato had finished talking about the one time Aya became a guest star in one of her dramas.

Despite Chisato’s insistence on splitting the bill, Kaoru stayed true to her previous word of the whole dinner being her treat. Apparently while Chisato thought it was a part of the act, Kaoru didn’t think so and ended up spending quite a lot on the dinner. It baffled Chisato that Kaoru would still order so much even when she knew that the numbers would go up pretty high even for their standards. Once the bill was paid, they both left the restaurant after Chisato left a tip for the waitress that had been kind enough to serve her during her time waiting. It was the least she could do since Kaoru kept pushing her wallet back when she wanted to pay for her share of the dinner.

“I’m going to pay you back soon, Kao-chan,” Chisato hugged her coat close as a wind blew past them.

“It’s fine,” Kaoru smiled at the kind gesture and inched closer to Chisato’s tiny figure, looking even smaller with the bouquet of roses in her hand, “I had enough fun that it was all worth it.”

“You know very well that’s not how it works for me,” Chisato sighed, earning a chuckle from Kaoru, “Let’s go out for another dinner soon.”

“... It’ll be an endless cycle of us trying to repay each other,” Kaoru said, “How fleeting.”

Chisato laughed at the comment, “Yeah sure, let’s make this a thing every time we’re done with a big project.”

“Spending time with you after a big project paints a wonderful picture in my mind,” Kaoru said, taking Chisato’s hand and interlacing their fingers together.

_And I’ll be sure to make that picture a reality, just like what you’ve done for me._

**Author's Note:**

> chisato: world hard and cold kaoru soft and warm


End file.
